ORIGINAL CONCEPT TEXT OF THE PROJECTThe new project is the next part of our Loop Event performance series.
In this project, we intend to enlarge the fundamental Loop Event concept in order to enable the creation of a new, location-specific event. During the earlier phases of the Loop Event project, we were attempting to create ways of cinematic expression under theatrical conditions. (As a matter of course, the Don’t Eat Group also creates site-specific projects at field locations.) Based on the principle of the “loop sampler” as used in electro-acoustic music, we are trying to translate the repetitive yet continuously evolving dramaturgy of music into cinematic expression, retaining during the filmmaking process an approach typical of the live spontaneity of improvisational music. Using the system we have developed, a repetitive stream of film footages is created. The film consists of footage clips of pre-defined length, to which new scenes are being added in real time from live camera feeds (while at the same time the audio track is also evolving simultaneously with the video).
The very process keeps shaping the dramaturgy, juxtaposing fragments of the past and the present.
The project starts during the day and ends at night. An important consideration of the selection of the location is that a smaller, more intimate space is desirable as the projection site, where video screening is also possible during the day. Another important consideration is that the screening area should preferably be as close to the shooting location as possible and that a physical link can be created between the two spaces.

For this project, the Kelenföldi Railway Station and its surroundings could be used as a potential location.
The screening area of the “cinema” is located at the end of the subway leading to the railway platforms. Since there are two entrances here, and the new wing of the building from which the platforms can also be accessed has been completed, it is probably possible to close down this entrance with a screen for the duration of the performance. Thus the entire cross section (marked with red in the photos) could be turned into a screening surface.
The audiovisual and intermedia project Remixing the City aims to create cinematic poetry impressions of the flexible “human territories” that essentially shape the public spaces of everyday life in big cities.

The process would evolve on the spot according to the following methodology:
The live video and audio streams are projected to the screen installed in the screening area where viewers can follow the event. The film is shot be two cameramen, aiming to present the “essence”, the macro-events of the location, as it were. Their movement and energy are affected by the instantaneous events, forcing them to work in an intuitive manner. The live video feeds are inserted one by one into the looped sequence using live, real-time editing. Each footage appearing on the screen is repeated over and over
until it is covered (replaced in the video stream) by another real-time clip. The loops keep rotating as a 10-second sequence, resulting in a dynamic repetitive sequence of short video clips. At the end of each cycle, the footage quality deteriorates, i.e. the scenes that have been repeated many times become increasingly blurred and damaged during the digitalisation process. The live audio feeds are also edited and mixed on the spot with pre-recorded noise samples by Zsolt Sőrés (Ahad). Two sound engineers,
equipped with radio microphones, move about in the surrounding location, collecting audio material throughout the shooting. Through separating and re-uniting the video and audio feeds, the normally connected media are now randomly juxtaposed, thus expanding the possibilities for associative interpretation. The situations experienced by the creators are organised into a video stream by way of improvisation, in a random manner, according to the laws of the signals entering the system. Since simultaneity is an indispensable element of the experience, there must be as many common links as
possible between the film and its viewers and the scene location. In such a situation, the environmental sound effects directly audible to viewers may easily be inserted into the audio stream or a cameraman may follow a person with his camera before suddenly appearing at the screening location.

An important goal of the Remixing the City project is that it should happen at various, very different locations. As each location will yield completely different audio and video materials, each film created will be entirely different, closely reflecting the actual space, situation and moment. Therefore, choosing the right public spaces is a crucial and exciting phase of the artistic process as this will essentially determine the potential appearance of the film, created in real time. The Remixing the City project would be particularly fascinating if, in the future, these films could be shot in the significantly different ambiances of other nations and cultural regions, finally enabling the presentation of the complete material at a gallery exhibition and subsequently on a website, in the form of a continuously expanding virtual exhibition.

Other possible locations for Remixing the City :
– Boráros tér, the subway area under Petőfi híd,
– Népszínház utca and its surroundings,
– the Fény utca market or the Lehel Csarnok,
– the deserted and abandoned subway near the Buda abutment of Rákóczi híd,
– and a suburban area to serve as the location of a “no-action” film.